14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has just announced that Windows 8.1 Preview will be retired next month, with all users now encouraged to switch to the stable release of the operating system.
Windows 8.1 Preview was officially launched on June 26 during the BUILD developer conference in San Francisco and was initially supposed to let users give a try to the first Windows 8 update.
Just like the full release, Windows 8.1 Preview was distributed via the integrated store as a free update and was also delivered to RT devices, such as Microsoft’s very own Surface RT.
Now Microsoft has just announced that Windows 8.1 Preview licenses will expire next month, without providing any specifics on the day this is going to happen.
“Partners should communicate with their customers to make sure they move to the final released versions of Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1 before January 2014 when the license for the preview will expire,” the company said in a blog post.
“Plans should be made to move to the released version of Windows 8.1 or return to the prior OS version as soon as possible to avoid interruption in use of the device on which the Windows 8.1 Preview was installed.”
While Microsoft hasn’t provided details on the day when Windows 8.1 Preview is going to be retired, it’s pretty clear that the company wants this to happen as soon as possible, as the company needs more adopters for its stable operating system.
In fact, the full build of Windows 8.1 is much more stable than the Preview build and packs lots of improvements, including bug fixes and performance optimization implemented after the launch of the Preview version.
Windows 8.1 was officially launched in October and is offered as a free update from the store for all those who installed Windows 8 on either desktops or tablets.